Fitzpatrick Resigns From Costa Mesa Planning Commission
(photo, Scott Smeltzer, Daily Pilot)
JIMMY FITZY QUITS THE PLANNING COMMISSIONIn a letter to Costa Mesa Mayor Eric Bever delivered late Tuesday afternoon by email, Costa Mesa Sanitary District Director and Costa Mesa Planning Commissioner Jim Fitzpatrick resigned from the Planning Commission effective immediately. The complete letter is below.
Fitzpatrick has been under fire for holding both of the seats simultaneously despite two legal opinions that doing so was incompatible based on state law. The Sanitary District Board filed a lawsuit to get an opinion from the State Attorney General on the subject. Had the Attorney General found that Fitzpatrick actually broke the law by holding both jobs he could have been removed from the Sanitary District position.
PRESSURED TO RESIGN?In addition, it is rumored that he may have been pressured to resign from the Planning Commission by certain high-ranking Costa Mesa officials, perhaps in an attempt to get the lawsuit dropped.
His resignation from the Costa Mesa Planning Commission yesterday doesn't necessarily mean that his legal troubles with the Sanitary District are over. They meet in a closed session this morning, Wednesday, to discuss Fitzpatrick. He is excluded from that meeting.
We'll see what his resignation does to the grand takeover plans that seem to be in play among the OC GOP. The Costa Mesa City Council must now decide how to replace him on the Planning Commission. There is no scheduled council meeting until June 5th unless they call a special meeting to discuss the issue. It is virtually guaranteed that they will replace him with yet another of their OC GOP sycophants. The question is, which one? The drama never stops.
HERE'S HIS LETTER TO ERIC BEVER
(click to enlarge)
Labels: Costa Mesa Planning Commission, Costa Mesa Sanitary District, Jim Fitzpatrick
posted by The Pot Stirrer at 5/16/2012 04:08:00 AM
18 Comments:
Ethan Temianka or Jeff Mathews would be excellent candidates to move up from Parks and Rec commission to the Planning commission seat. Definitely choose from the OCGOP group no matter what. No looney lefties please. Jeff Harlan can save his stamp after what he wrote in the Pilot. This is where you hope you have not offended council in the past if you want this seat. (make mental note for future). You can disagree with council w/o repercussions,but the name calling, supposed Brown act violations, kickback and cronyism complaints and general assaults disqualify you from such a powerful position.
Fitzy is a chicken shi#! He intended to resign from the Planning Commission all along.
His goal? To make Sanitary District Directors, Art Perry and Jim Ferryman, look bad right before the election in November. This is part of a master plan, another orchestrated effort to achieve a majority on the CMSD Board. These fools will stop at nothing…even setting up Art and Jim to take the fall for their ill-conceived reckless behavior.
Please DO NOT let them replace two well-respected, outstanding, responsible members of our community with hand selected ass kissers to the Council. We need to keep some semblance of dignity here.
Watch and listen to Jim Fitzpatrick and the rest of the village idiots run all over town waving the receipt for the legal bills like the American flag. Absolutely ridiculous.
WE MUST NOT LET MORE POWER HUNGRY FOOLS WIN IN NOVEMBER!!!
Don’t be complacent Costa Mesa. We really need to be careful here or we will end up screwing ourselves out of our own city!
Be careful,
Fascinating commentary from an obvious insider. How do you know what anyone's strategy is? CMSD has done all of this in closed session - no one knows what is even happening. Fitzy's letter provides the only clue - that CMSD did move forward, despite their own attorney telling them they did not have the standing to ask the AG.
You dare reference power hunger? If CMSD moves ahead after Fitzy's resignation, every single CMSD board member should be replaced. They said, over and over, that this is about compatibility. If they keep trying to remove Fitzy, it proves the ugly rumors of something far more sinister. They could care less about ratepayers or integrity - they just want Fitzy gone.
I hope the Board makes the right choice and drops this wasteful and damaging action.
Fitzy's resignation renders incompatibility moot.
Poor Fitzy.
Maybe now this tool will have time to come and wash my car.
Speaking of tools, Baby Ethan came off as a pathetic goose-stepper last night, taking Fitzy's place kissing Riggy's giant butt. He can't even read his script properly. What is his level of education anyway? OCGOP wants us to believe people like this are leaders?? They're ruining the Republican "brand."
huh? CMSD should be careful you sound a lot like Fritzy, no logical agruments. Be careful said nothing that indicates insider information and Fritzy's (your) letter did not say anything about CMSD moving forward despite their own attorney telling them they did not have a standing to ask the AG. If Fitzy (you) thought he was gonna win this legal battle he (you) would have held on to both seats. Are you losing it Fritzy? Or maybe be careful had some good words of advice and that got you rattled....
it's over for Perry and Ferryman this round of elections. next sadie will be gone. Fitzy has a CHANCE, and a good one, at winning this battle. It would have been an interesting legal opinion. The person wanting to be appointed should have used her own money to persue this though.
sadie1, surely you have seen Fitzy's materials while you were in closed session discussing how to waste ratepayer funds on your personal vendetta against Fitzy. You made a big show of respecting ratepayer wishes to eliminate any potential conflict of interest - now that it is gone, what is your excuse?
Please, no more hitting this political piñata. I can guarantee that this one is not filled with candy....
Not being very careful, I am a concerned citizen who hears things and follows up. I heard from a so called Fitzy friend that Athens is in his pocket, paying his legal fees to get them an opening in Costa Mesa. I checked on Athens and what I found was very disturbing, articles about low balling,campaign contributions, violations, lawsuits. Check it out for yourself.
Low Bids:
http://www.dailybreeze.com/ci_18333593?IADID=Search-www.dailybreeze.com-www.dailybreeze.com
$800,000 less than the next bidder
http://www.easyreadernews.com/15607/hermosa-street-contrac/
"Morgan had sent a letter informing Athens that its contract bid was unbalanced. He cited “glaring” examples including a bid six times lower than CleanStreet’s for “by far the largest” chunk of work in the contract."
http://missionviejodispatch.com/uncategorized/staff-recommends-new-street-sweeper-co/
Athens submitted a bid $75,000 less than Mission Viejo’s current vendor, Sunset Properties.
and I have more if you like..
regarding Athens
http://www.stopathens.org/summary.pdf
not a company I would want to do business with...
regarding campaign contributions:
http://www.newportbeachindy.com/?s=AThens+services
Newport Beach - Daigle
Compass Rose
San Dimas, CA
Reply »
|Report Abuse |Judge it! |#4 Feb 26, 2012
Touhey, Lane and Herfert have received money from individuals or companies associated with Athens Services, the company that has West Covina's residential and commercial garbage collecting contracts.
Touhey got $7,000 from Athens-associated donors, including Dennis Chiappetta, executive vice president of Athens, and nearly a half-dozen companies owned by Ron Arakelian, the CEO of Athens.
Lane received $4,000 and Herfert received $1,000 each from donors linked to Athens.
Touhey, Lane and Herfert have received money from individuals or companies associated with Athens Services, the company that has West Covina's residential and commercial garbage collecting contracts.
arakelian&search_country=US&st=person%20finder&target_url=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5pbnNpZGVzb2NhbC5jb20vc2d2Z292LzIwMDgvMDkvd2VzdC1jb3ZpbmEtY291bmNpbC1tZW1iZXJzLXN0Lmh0bWw%3D§ion=blog&wrt_id=262
West Covina-Lane received $4,000 and Herfert received $1,000 each from donors linked to Athens.
http://egpnews.com/2010/01/two-montebello-officials-up-for-recall/
That is right two Montibello officials were recalled over these type shanigans....
I started with do what it right and give up a seat and wound up here. I wish I had acess to the info in those closed sessions.
sadie1, you "heard from a so called Fitzy friend that Athens is in his pocket, paying his legal fees to get them an opening in Costa Mesa."
Laughable. The desperation is showing. Keep it up.
Well it may be laughable to you, but it is very interesting to the public. Consider the timing here folks…you decide, coincidence? I think not.
Fact #1: It is revealed that the unemployed Jim Fitzpatrick has Athens Services/Arakelian Enterprises paying for legal fees he cannot otherwise afford.
Fact #2: The street sweeping contract for Costa Mesa is awarded to Athens Services. On the same exact day, Jim Fitzpatrick suddenly resigns from the Planning Commission.
Fact #3: Jim Fitzpatrick and his financial backer Athens Services are nervous Jim might lose the lawsuit and be legally removed from the Costa Mesa Sanitary District Board.
Fact#4: If removed from CMSD, Jim will not be able to force the “Put the trash contract out for bid” campaign he is on. Isn’t this the phrase Jim repeats over and over and over and over again to anyone who will listen? Personally, I am sick of hearing it
Fact #5: Athens asked Jim to drop Planning Commission to remain on the CMSD Board.
Fact #6: In addition to street sweeping, Jim Fitzpatrick can award Athens the “new” CMSD trash contract.
Fact #7: Arakelian Enterprises, Inc. dba Athens Services and 7 other companies they own are well-known, publicly documented contributors of candidates.
Fitzy, I think YOUR desperation is showing! It's really starting to get to you isn't it?
It's pretty obvious most people in this town do not like you. More importantly, we do not trust you.
did someone say the rest of the
Board had a closed session but Fitzpatrick was not allowed in? Where is Cal. Aware on this? He is an elected Board member. He should have walked right into the closed session as is his right. Any legal opinion from "experts" on this blog would be appreciated. Even better, an actual ruling of case law trumps some lawyers opinion. Please share if you know...
Wouldn't it be nice if a reputable news/media source would actually report on stuff like this?
ourofcontrolboard?,
Fitzpatrick WAS NOT entitled to attend that closed session because it discussed existing litigation in which he is a party.
Mike M...
We did. ;-)
Curious,
Facts? You aren't stating an opinion, you are claiming to state facts, which are unsupported and which are intended to damage Fitzpatrick. That is defamation (libel).
In order to bring a cause of action for defamation, a plaintiff must establish that the defendant:
1.published a statement about the plaintiff
2.that was defamatory
3.while acting with either actual intent or reckless disregard, i.e. malice (if the plaintiff was a public official or public figure) or negligence (if the plaintiff was a private individual) regarding the truth of the statement.
These statements could be construed as libel per se. I suggest the blog owner review the following link and reconsider allowing such posts, at least without supporting documentation.
https://www.eff.org/issues/bloggers/legal/liability/defamation
Please look into the wasted money at the Sanitary District.
Even though Jim Fitzpatrick resigned from the City Planning Commission, the Sanitary District is still spending 50k to oust him from his elected office. The GM hired a buddy as HR Executive at a 6 figure salary with big benefits. Last but not least,the Sanitary District wasted big money on the lobby. Do they really need bullet proof glass? Any other businesses in the area have bullet proof glass?
Would someone please explain to me why the OC GOP believes that it thinks or even knows that they are in charge of even a single individual if that individual does not believe in thier agenda or thier politics and doesn't really follw thier edicts, I didn't vote for any of them and don't know hwo they think that they are so do I have to follow thier rules even if I don't work for them. Does that make me an anarchist? (NOT) event the OC Register is censoring peoples comments on their Facebook pages if they don't agree with the Republinut line of defense against them, I've seen it happen even to myself because the comments have been erased or deleted.
They do not tell me or order me how to think or speak.
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